Isa 21:1, The prophet, bewailing the captivity of his people, sees in a vision the fall of Babylon by the Medes and Persians; Isa 21:11, Edom, scorning the prophet, is moved to repentance; Isa 21:13, The set time of Arabia's calamity.

The burden: The first ten verses of this chapter contain a prediction of the taking of Babylon by the Medes and Persians; which is here denominated "the desert of the sea," because the country around it, and especially towards the sea, was a great morass, often overflowed by the Tigris and Euphrates, and only rendered habitable by being drained by a number of canals. Isa 13:1, Isa 17:1

Dumah: Dumah is probably the same as Dumatha, a city of Arabia, mentioned by Stephanus, and the modern Dumah and Dumathalgandel, on the borders of Arabia and Syria, in a rocky valley. The Edomites, says Bp. Lowth, as well as Jews, were subdued by the Babylonians. They enquire of the prophet how long their subjection is to last; he intimates that the Jews should be delivered from their captivity; not so the Edomites. "The morning cometh, and also the night." Gen 25:14; Ch1 1:30